Billionaire and renown philanthropist has been known for his charitable work in the past, but has recently taken a major step forward in the fight against world epidemics. He has now pledged to donate $500 million to continue his fight against Malaria and has now pledged to fight Ebola.
Gates has been working with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, a group funded by Bill Gates foundation since 1999 to develop a cure for world diseases, which has been claiming lives in Africa and all around the world at an alarming rate.
Of the $500 million, about $150 million alone is being allocated to the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative which is dispersing the money as follows; $29 million will go to the Clinton Health Access Initiative,$49 million will help researchers develop vaccines for bacterial causes of diarrhea, and $60 million will go toward the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative. This is only the money being sent to the PATH foundation which was funded by Gates foundation.
Over the past year alone, Gates and his foundation have boosted funding into finding the cure of Malaria by 30% which brings it just around $200 million alone on just Malaria. Gates is very serious about his fight against the killer disease. He stated while speaking with the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, “We must remain committed to the eradication of malaria, small steps won’t get the job done. History shows that the only way to stop malaria is to end it forever.” Gates is very serious about ending Malaria, in the 15 years the Bill Gates Foundation has given over $30 billion towards research and development towards the fight against Malaria.
Not only is Gates fighting Malaria, he has also designated $50 million to the recent fight against the Ebola virus. This is a fight that Gates believes needs to be fought by the whole world, he has gotten other tech moguls to donate to the fight. Gates’ childhood friend and Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen donated $100 million, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave $25 million. Gates understands that these donations are steps in the right direction, but he still believes this is an uphill battle and has vowed to give away 95% of his $81.6 billion net worth to charity and other organizations for potential future health of the world.
